Vitamin E supplements may interfere with the process that keeps bones healthy, suggest Japanese scientists. Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, the Keio University team said mice given large doses had lower bone mass - if the same was true in humans, fracture risk would be increased.

Vitamin E is found in oils, green vegetables such as spinach and broccoli and in almonds and hazelnuts.
But a UK expert said supplements could be problematic.

The relationship between nutrients such as vitamin D and bone health are well established, but there is far less research which looks at the role of vitamin E.
 

Lower bone mass with vitamin E
 

The research at Keio University in Tokyo looked at what happened when mice had not enough vitamin E, and what happened when they were given supplements.
Although some early studies suggested that consumption of the vitamin had a positive effect on bone mass, the Japanese team found the reverse was true, with bone health improving in the deficient mice, and losing bone mass when given supplements.
The test has only been made on mice, and it is too soon to say if vitamin E has the same effect on humans

Read the Article on BBC news here